The phenomenon

Watch the teaser trailer

The music. The spectacle. The grace. The costumes. Ballroom dance is enjoying a renaissance here in America, as well as abroad, embraced by everyone from grandparents to grad students. Ballroom hoofing has even become a widespread competitive event, dubbed dancesport.

But there’s one form of this storytelling-in-motion that is not seen in mainstream venues: same-sex couple dancing. Yet it too is surging in popularity, remaking lives and bodies, along with popular culture and gender politics.

The film

Our feature documentary film, Hot to Trot, goes inside that fascinating but little-known world and follows a small international cast of four magnetic men and women, on and off the dance floor, over a four-year period. An immersive character study – and an idiosyncratic attack on bigotry – this rousing, powerful story unfurls with the rhythms and energy of dramatic cinema.

Photo: Shell Jiang

Hot to Trot is an intimate, humanist account of a captivating phenomenon — a world in which personal passion meets political muscle. Away from their extraordinary feats on the dance floor, the characters’ backstories frame their struggles and conflicts in life: charismatic Ernesto, a Costa Rican former meth head; gritty Emily, a severe lifelong Type 1 diabetic, who wears an insulin pump 24/7, even while performing; dazzling Russian dance champ Nikolai, who came out only a few years ago and longs for family acceptance; and careerist Kieren, whose identity was forged in a strict New Zealand military environment with deep tentacles. The film follows them over time, as their relationships with others, and themselves, develop and deepen.

Dance is a form of personal power & political engagement that simultaneously (re)shapes their identities and helps them overcome uniquely personal challenges. They are emblems of LGBTQ politics, writ small – but they are living the issues, rather than working them. And Hot to Trot’s story, which lives at the intersection of art, activism and passion, has appeal to a broad and diverse audience. As these dancers evolve, we understand, vividly and personally, the real impact of the LGBTQ politics we read about every day. And we care.

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After almost five years, we have finished the film and just begun to explore exhibition and distribution. We’re at a real inflection point as a society—more so than we could have imagined when we began this journey—and this documentary can be part of that, helping spark new understanding, attitudes and action.

Please help us manifest that vision. Here’s how you can help:

We’ve completed production and bought music licensing rights for the festival phase. But we need to raise more funds to create our outreach campaign, apply and travel to a wide range of festivals, and procure the (very expensive) music rights required for distribution. The indie film marketplace has changed dramatically in the last few years, and it’s on us to make this happen. Hot to Trot is a fiscally sponsored project of IFP. Through IFP, you can support our project through a tax-deductible contribution by donating online or by check (don’t forget to note that it’s for Hot to Trot, Gail Freedman, Producer).

Our film has already reached and touched a lot of people and now we’re eager to share it with the world. We hope to be picked up for wider distribution (theatrical, TV, streaming, et al). This isn’t a niche film—it’s designed to appeal to a big and diverse audience. A highly developed outreach, promotional and audience engagement campaign is planned. Can you put us in touch with potential distribution partners?

Are you involved with an event we should know about, or can you think of a place we should consider screening our film?

We may be coming to your area for a festival or screening. Would you like to help us? Please sign up for updates and we’ll let you know where we are planning to be and how you can help us.

We’d like to acknowledge the many people who provided support and guidance in the making of this film.

Hot to Trot is a fiscally sponsored project of IFP (www.ifp.org). Through IFP, you can support our project through a tax-deductible contribution by donating online or by check (don't forget to note that it's for Hot to Trot, Gail Freedman, Producer).